It’s no secret that gaming on the iPhone has been one of the main keys to the App Store’s success. You know it, I know it, and so you have to believe that all the competitors know it too. And yet, their actions would seem to suggest that they don’t know it. Because they keep building devices, operating systems and app stores to compete with the iPhone, that simply can’t hold a candle to the iPhone when it comes to gaming.

At the Casual Connect conference in Seattle today, some numbers were thrown out there, talking about just how big gaming is now on the iPhone. Of the nearly 70,000 apps in the App Store, some 20% are games. Yes, that means there are between 10,000 and 15,000 apps that are games, just for the iPhone alone. To put that in perspective, that is more than the total number of apps that all of the App Store’s big competitors (Android Market, Nokia Ovi Store, Palm’s App Catalog, BlackBerry’s App World) have — combined.

Namco’s Pac Man was first released in Japan May 22, 1980, which means the 30th anniversary of the cult game is a good year away. But if it’s Pac-Man, you can never celebrate too early: Starting in November, Namco Bandai, as the company is now called, plans to sell Pac-Man branded Zippos on the Japanese market.

Pac-Man or retro game fans can choose between three different lighters: Game (my favorite and pictured above), Dot Ghost and Dot Pac-Man. The MSRP is $110. Ask specialized online shop Rinkya to get one for you if you live outside Japan.

Via Akihabara News

Green Dam, a filtering software that’s supposed to protect China’s population from harmful content (and can be called a piece of garbage on more than one level), seems to trigger anticipatory obedience (you could also call it business sense, I guess) within some PC companies. Even though the Chinese government postponed its plans to make the software mandatory with all PC shipments in the country from July 1, Acer, Asustek and Lenovo already bundle their hardware with Green Dam.

Lenovo has started shipping Green Dam-equipped PCs in China without telling their customers. Apparently the world’s fourth largest computer manufacturer is afraid nobody will buy Lenovo PCs anymore if it does. Asustek is less cautious and has begun shipping PCs with a Green Dam CD in early July. And Acer plans to do the same from the beginning of August.

Not all companies are joining the Green Dam bandwagon though. Sony began shipping its PCs with the software as early as June this year but stopped in the meantime. Other makers, such as HP or Dell, haven’t even started.

Via China Daily

Music Skins offers cool, removable stickers for most of your gadgets and they like CrunchGear so they wanted us to announce their latest endeavor, the MusicSkins Customizer.

The customizer lets you create custom stickers for almost any device including BlackBerries and iPods. They cost about $20 each.

The interface allows for layered graphics and it’s actually quite easy to use. A few clicks and I had my exciting, graphically rich sticker ready for my iPod nano! W00T!

Because we’re such nice guys, Music Skins has agreed to give 10 of you some gadget stickers. Head over to Music Skins and pick out your favorite style and tell us about it in comments. I’ll pick ten winners at random. I’ll close the contest tomorrow, Friday July 24 at noon Eastern.

MusicSkins Amps up Custom Skins for Personal Electronics

New online Customizer creates one-of-a-kind vinyl skins

with favorite personal photos and graphics

BROOKLYN, NY (July 22nd, 2009) – MusicSkins LLC, a leader in music and music-related premium quality vinyl skin products for iPods, MP3 players, cell phones, PDAs, laptops and gaming accessories, today announced the launch of its new Customizer, the latest in online tools that allows anyone to easily design and create unique one-of-a-kind personalized skins using their own favorite photos, graphics, and artwork to suit any taste and style.

MusicSkins has been best known for its line of skins featuring musicians such as Bob Marley, Madonna, John Lennon, Coldplay, Kiss, Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift, 3Oh!3, T-Pain, Def Leppard; clothing brands such as Rogue Status, Skelanimals, Mishka, Baby Cakes, Rockett Clothing; and artists such as explodingdog, Derek Hess, Alex Pardee, Dave White, Benny Gold and Cope 2.

“Our focus on the music scene puts us in the forefront of pop culture. The popularity of so many diverse images in our music-themed skins catalog clearly proves our belief that everyone has a unique personality and style,” observed Jed Seifert, MusicSkins LLC Executive Vice President. “Personal electronic devices are the perfect canvas for expressing individuality, and MusicSkins has always been the source for the coolest skins.”

“Now our Customizer introduces a fresh new twist on personalizing the electronic devices we all use every day, making it easy and fun for people to express themselves using their own favorite photos and images,” continued Seifert. “You easily can feature your band, friends, family, loved ones, a favorite pet, a crazy party pic, great vacation photo, or your company logo on your cell phone or iPod.”

About the MusicSkins Customizer

The Customizer is available online on the MusicSkins website. Users simply choose from a wide selection of devices including iPods, MP3 players, cell phones, PDAs, laptops and gaming accessories like Playstation PSP, Nintendo DS and Guitar Hero, then upload a personal photo, logo, artwork, image or pick artwork from MusicSkins collections. Customizer lets them size, position and manipulate the image, and even add background colors and personalized text.

The Customizer skins are priced between $15 and $30 USD to make it affordable for consumers to create personal collections of individualized device skins. MusicSkins are quick and easy to change, giving people the freedom to be as creative and in the now as they want to be.

Like all MusicSkins products, the Customizer personalized skins are made of premium quality vinyl that provides a high-gloss photo grade finish while protecting the electronic device with a durable, scratch-resistant, anti-UV coating. The skins’ patented 3M air release adhesive technology ensures that they apply easily, evenly and bubble-free. Unlike decals, stickers and other kinds of device covers, MusicSkins can also be easily removed without leaving any residue, making it clean and easy to switch skins. MusicSkins add almost zero bulk so the device will still fit perfectly with any case, bag, dock, iTrip or armband.